Apple is likely to join the foldable market this year — but Samsung is gearing up to have a competitor in place before the iPhone Ultra even launches.
Samsung is set to show off its latest wares at a Galaxy Unpacked event in London on July 22, and it's widely expected that the company will announce a third foldable to add onto the Fold and Flip form factors it has already been selling for years now.
This new foldable will reportedly be a shorter, wider device, similar in shape to the still-unannounced iPhone Ultra.
Here's everything you need to know about the wide Samsung foldable before its likely launch later this month.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide: When is it coming?
As previously mentioned, Samsung's next Galaxy Unpacked event is on July 22. The phone will likely not hit shelves that day, but it should be available within a few weeks, if precedent holds.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide: What is it called?
This is where things get confusing. While we expect that the new wide foldable will be called Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, it is not a true successor to the Z Fold 7 (launched in 2025), at least not in terms of design.
There will be a successor to the Z Fold 7 launched alongside the new wide foldable, but it's reportedly called the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Hopefully Samsung will clear up the confusion on why that should be.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide: Design and specs
Samsung hasn't officially announced the Z Fold 8, but we have a decent idea of what to expect based on various leaks over the past several months.
Mashable Light Speed
For example, prominent leaker Sonny Dickson posted images on X back in April purporting to show dummy cases for the new batch of foldables.
Two of them look familiar to fans of Samsung phones, but one of them is clearly more squat and more wide than anything the company has made yet. We are pretty sure that's the Z Fold 8.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
There are now official details yet, but leaker Tarun Vats recently posted specs on X. They include:
5.5-inch cover display with 120Hz refresh rate
7.6-inch inner display with 120Hz refresh rate
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset
12GB RAM
256GB/512GB/1TB storage
4,800mAh battery
Based on the dummy units seen above, those display dimensions sound about right. The idea, evidently, is to have a roughly 4:3 aspect ratio in the inner display, which is what Apple is reportedly going to do with its foldable.
This was recently corroborated even more by Android Authority, which found alleged images of the phone in One UI 9 files.
Yeah, that's not a regular Samsung foldable. Credit: Android Authority
As for the other specs offered by Tarun Vats, there are no real surprises here. The RAM and storage counts are pretty normal for what will likely be an expensive phone, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset has been used in other recent Samsung devices.
All that should keep the phone performing smoothly. A 4,800mAh battery is also roughly what we would expect from a device like this. Hopefully, it'll be able to keep a charge for at least 24 hours.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide: Cameras
This is one area where it seems like Samsung is making compromises. In the render above from Android Authority, there are only two rear cameras on the Z Fold 8. That's not ideal: the Z Fold 7 had three, and we expect the same of the Z Fold 8 Ultra.
Tarun Vats' specs list suggests they won't be the most powerful lenses in the world, either. A 50MP wide and 50MP ultrawide lens, with two 10MP selfie cameras, may sound impressive — but it's a far cry from the 200MP main lens we got on the Z Fold 7.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide: Price
It's impossible to say what this phone will cost prior to its announcement. RAMageddon is very real, and foldables were already in the neighborhood of $2,000 before memory became impossible to come by.
Do not be shocked if this phone, even with its weaker cameras, is out of your price range.